Last Minute Changes / News

Advance Tickets still available: Evesham (for Sedgeberrow) and Great Malvern trip.

Birdsong reduces, trees and shrub flowering enters its final phase: See Nature Blog

Translations at the National Theatre

Brian Friel’s modern classic is a powerful account of nationhood, which sees the turbulent relationship between England and Ireland play out in one quiet community.  Following a sold-out run in 2018, Ian Rickson’s exquisite production of Brian Friel's masterpiece returns at National Theatre, starring Ciaran Hinds (Game of Thrones, Girl from the North Country)

Public booking starts on May 3, to book, please click here.   Meet at Kitchen Cafe on the ground floor of the National Theatre for F&B from 6pm.

Two ways of getting cheaper tickets 

£20 Friday Rush - Every Friday at 1pm, a limited number of £20 Friday Rush tickets are released online for each of the following week’s performances, excluding West End productions. These are limited to 2 per customer, per production

Day Tickets - A limited number of day tickets are available in person at 9.30am from the Ground Floor Box Office.They are priced at £15 or £18, are limited to two per customer and may offer a restricted view. For popular productions, queues may start early outside the main National Theatre entrance.

The Secret River at the National Theatre

A deeply moving and unflinching journey into Australia’s dark history. Adapted from Kate Grenville’s acclaimed novel, this multi-award-winning production from Sydney Theatre Company tells the story of two families divided by culture and land. 

William Thornhill arrives in New South Wales a convict from the slums of London. Upon earning his pardon he discovers that this new world offers something he didn’t dare dream of: a place to call his own. But as he plants a crop and lays claim to the soil on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, he finds that this land is not his to take. Its ancient custodians are the Dharug people.

To book, please click here.  Meet at the Kitchen Cafe on the ground floor of the National Theatre for F&B from 5:30pm 

Two ways of getting cheaper tickets 

£20 Friday Rush - Every Friday at 1pm, a limited number of £20 Friday Rush tickets are released online for each of the following week’s performances, excluding West End productions. These are limited to 2 per customer, per production

Day Tickets - A limited number of day tickets are available in person at 9.30am from the Ground Floor Box Office.They are priced at £15 or £18, are limited to two per customer and may offer a restricted view. For popular productions, queues may start early outside the main National Theatre entrance.

BBC Prom at Royal Albert Hall

Prom  44

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a concert of sonic spectacle, bringing one of the great English oratorios together with an American orchestral classic.

Walton’s choral masterpiece Belshazzar’s Feast gets the Proms treatment with a 300-strong choir and Canadian baritone Gerald Finley as soloist.

More than 10 percussionists are needed to bring Varese’s Amériques – a celebration of the modern city in sound – to life, while Charles Koechlin’s Jungle Book inspired Les bandar-logtransports listeners to the primeval forest, where all the noise comes from the monkeys.

Koechlin
Les bandar-log 16’

Varese
Amériques (original version,1921) 25’

– interval –

Walton
Belshazzar’s Feast 34’

Gerald Finley baritone

Orfeo Catala
Orfeo Catala Youth Choir
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle conductor

To book, please click here. Alternatively, you can just prom on the day. Meet at the steps of Albert Memorial for picnic from 6pm. 

BBC Prom at Royal Albert Hall

Prom 14 

Haydn’s colourful oratorio returns to the Proms for the first time in a decade. The BBCPhilharmonic is joined by the BBC Proms Youth Choir to perform the composer’s late masterpiece.

From its opening Representation of Chaos, through the creation of stars, seas and storms, a magnificent musical sunrise and of course every animal from whales to eagles and even a worm, The Creation is one of the great musical dramas, teeming with life and detail.

Haydn
The Creation 105’
(sung in German)

Sarah-Jane Brandon soprano
Benjamin Hulett tenor
Christoph Pohl baritone

BBC Proms Youth Choir
BBC Philharmonic
Omer Meir Wellber conductor

To book, please click here. Alternatively, you can just prom on the day. Meet at the steps of Albert Memorial for picnic from 6pm. 

Sunday Walk - The Malvern Hills from Colwall (Colwall to Great Malvern)

Length: 18.8 km (11.7 mi) [shorter and longer versions possible, see below]

Ascent/Descent:  804/849m; Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours

Toughness:  9 out of 10 

From the direction of Worcester take the 09.06 Hereford train from Worcester Shrub Hill (calls Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern  (09.21), arrives Colwall 09.26.

Form the direction of Hereford take the 10.05 Birmingham New Street train (Ledbury 10.22), arrives Colwall 10.28.

From London take the 08.48 Hereford train from Paddington (Slough 09.02, Reading 09.20, Great Malvern 11.20), arrives Colwall 11.25. With a Network Railcard (valid to Worcester Stations), buy split tickets (unless you have secured a cheap Advance Ticket).

(Direct) Return trains from Great Malvern: 15.05, 17.04, 19.12, 20.10 (from 166 mins). There are also several indirect, and often cheaper options.

This version of the walk will help you to cover all but four of the 22 notable hilltops in the range over the two days of walking. You are starting out along fields and through oak woods at the westerly base of the hills to then return north to Malvern along the top of the ridge.

From the blurb: “The Malvern Hills stand majestically above the Severn Plain in Worcestershire and the rolling wooded hills of Herefordshire, offering far reaching panoramic views across a variety of landscapes from a multitude of viewpoints. The area is famed for its steep dramatic hills rising out of flat vales and for the pure spring water that flows from them, but it also offers a rich cultural heritage of forts, castles and priories in a landscape of ancient woodland, rolling pastures and wild, open commons.”

Walk Options:

A Shortcut at the Silurian Pass cuts the tops south of British Camp and 5.2 km/3.2 mi and 305m ascent.
An Extension to the two southerly tops adds 3.4 km/2.1 mi and 180m ascent.
An Extension to the four northerly tops adds 2.0 km/1.2 mi and 111m ascent (same as on Saturday’s walk).

Finish at The Malvern Hills Hotel and take a taxi back.

Lunch: The Malvern Hills Hotel & Restaurant (food all day) and Sally’s Place (food all day), both either 2.7 km/1.7 mi into the walk if taking the early diversion, or 10.9 km/6.8 mi on the full walk.

Tea en route: The Wyche Inn  (open all day, food served to 19.30) and Café H2O  (open to 16.30). Both are 4.1 km/2.5 mi from the end of the walk.

Tea in Great Malvern: Plentyful options. Check the webpage or the pdf for details.  

                                                                                   

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files  click here. T=swc.324.a

Saturday Walk - The Malvern Hills from Great Malvern (Great Malvern Circular)

Length: 20.6 km (12.8 mi) [shorter and longer versions possible, see below]

Ascent/Descent:  1035m; Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ¾ hours

Toughness:  10 out of 10 

The walk starts at the train station at 10.10 for people already there, or at 11.05 for anyone travelling up from London on the day.

From the direction of Worcester take the 09.47 Great Malvern train from Worcester Shrub Hill (calls Foregate Street, Malvern Link), arrives Great Malvern 10.05.

Form the direction of Hereford take the 09.39 Birmingham New Street train (Ledbury 09.58, Colwall 10.05), arrives Great Malvern 10.10.

From London take the 08.22 Hereford train from Paddington (Slough 08.38, Reading 08.54), arrives Great Malvern 11.03. With a Network Railcard (valid to Worcester Stations), buy split tickets (unless you have secured a cheap Advance Ticket).

(Direct) Return trains: 17.45, 18.32, 20.53 (from 162 mins). There are also several indirect, and often cheaper options. Or stay in the area for Sunday’s walk. Convenient accommodation is available along the train line in Evesham, Pershore, Worcester, Great Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford (only Worcester and Great Malvern are convenient though for the Sunday morning train).

“The Malvern Hills stand majestically above the Severn Plain in Worcestershire and the rolling wooded hills of Herefordshire, offering far reaching panoramic views across a variety of landscapes from a multitude of viewpoints. The area is famed for its steep dramatic hills rising out of flat vales and for the pure spring water that flows from them, but it also offers a rich cultural heritage of forts, castles and priories in a landscape of ancient woodland, rolling pastures and wild, open commons.
The circular route rises through the town past all important landmarks and ascends the famous 99 Steps to St. Ann’s Well, but then heads southerly, mostly through ancient woodlands along the foot of the hills, to lunch. It then rises up through the mid slopes of scrub, grass, rock and bracken, first to the Herefordshire Beacon and then returns along the top of the ridge via the Worcestershire Beacon to Great Malvern, with its grassy commons maintained by livestock grazing, in places with Bilberry and Common Heather.”

Walk Options:

Taxi from the station  to Wyche Cutting/The Wyche Inn or The Malvern Hills Hotel/British Camp (£7/£12 resp., taxis usually on stand, else try: 01684 578 749 or 07730 573 738).
Bus 44B to/from Wyche Cutting and British Camp (hourly, from near the station).
Bus 675 to/from Wyche Cutting (from outside The Mount Pleasant Hotel, 1.5 km into the walk).
Outward and return route are never far from each other (if mostly at much different height), therefore there are several ways to pick up the return route to Great Malvern earlier than described:
· at the Gold Mine stone dial (7.9 km/4.9 mi, 457m ascent, 3/10);
· at the Wyche Cutting/The Wyche Inn (9.1 km/5.6 mi, 519m ascent, 4/10);
· at The Malvern Hills Hotel (17.2 km/10.7 mi, 884m ascent, 9/10).
Finish at The Malvern Hills Hotel after going up to British Camp and take the 44B bus back (12.9 km/8.0 mi, 737m ascent, 7/10).

An Extension to the four northerly tops adds 2.0 km/1.2 mi and 111m ascent.

Elenvenses/Lunch/Tea en route/Tea in Great Malvern: Plentyful options. Check the webpage or the pdf for details.  

                                                                                   

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files  click here. T=swc.324